Page:The City-State of the Greeks and Romans.djvu/36

12 depend for their ultimate sanction on the will of the Government of Great Britain and Ireland. So, too, the United States of America are only States by courtesy, as it were, while the whole Federation is a State in the true sense of the word.

While, then, every State must be held together by the artificial ties, it may, so long as it is independent, exist as a true State without any of the natural ties, except perhaps that of the land on which its members are settled. But it will be seen at once that it will be a stronger and more securely united State if it be bound together not only by the artificial ties, but also by those which we call natural, or at least by some of them. The greater the number of ties operating to hold a State together, the stronger will that State be. To see this we have only to compare modern France with modern Austria. Of modern States, France has long been the happiest instance of an almost complete union of ties both natural and artificial; hence in great measure her marvellous vitality and power of cohesion, which in this century alone has enabled her to survive two conquests, and to maintain her influence as a great power after disasters which would have utterly crushed a people less firmly knit together. Austria, on the other hand, is weak in all the ties, and especially in those of race, language, religion, and sentiment; and it is a commonplace with politicians that the Austrian empire may easily break up under severe pressure, or only survive by the help of allies whose interests it at present serves. The law which this example illustrates will be found to hold good